Boys Noize adds techno torrent to Syrian singer Omar Souleyman's 'Layle' – Dancing Astronaut

by: Bella Bagshaw Apr 30, 2020

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Since fleeing his homeland of Syria in the wake of its civil war, singer Omar Souleyman has accrued global esteem for his delectably bizarre and frenetic amalgam of traditional Eastern dabke music and Westernized techno—styled especially for weddings.

Enter Diplo. Leave it to the Mad Decent shot-caller—who housed Souleyman’s 2019 LP Shlon—to summon the strangest and often most colorful elements of the dance music continuum. The plot thickens, as German Renaissance Man of the dance world, Boys Noize (real name Alex Ridha) enters the increasingly international frame. Ridha is in many ways an idyllic remixer for a feat as left-field as Souleyman’s. His track record proves his amorphous affinity for everything from hip-hop to acid house, taking on originals across the map from Snoop Dogg, Depeche Mode, Afrika Bambaataa, The Chemical Brothers, and countless more.

From the Shlon album comes “Layle,” Ridha’s acquired remix target. He ditches the original’s feverishly complex melodies and introduces a blistering Boys Noize cornerstone kick drum and infamous analog sensibilities. Ridha takes “Layle” from the Middle Eastern wedding-day dancefloor to the steely German warehouse walls with poise.